6 of 6 | Chapter 16

*

The next morning Tya woke Pat. They attending the same cryptology faculty course at PrEUST and Tya's abilities were not far behind Patricia's, but far enough that she viewed Patricia as something of a Goddess.

“I've also been solving something else. I figured out why the signal that's carrying the message changes all the time,” announced Tya, happily.

“What have you figured out, Senorita?” said Martins, appearing unexpectedly in the doorway.

“Good morning, Dr Martins. I think I've found out why the message changes. It changes because the universe is constantly changing. Here on Earth, if we look for a street address or a city, it will be in the same place it was yesterday, but universe itself revolves as a whole, moves and twists around … or something like that, though that's not really my thing.” She waved her hands about vaguely. “It's therefore impossible to specify the exact direction you need to go to find what you're looking for.” She gestured more vigorously in all the directions. “There is simply no such thing as a fixed three-dimensional space out there because nothing is fixed. Everything is in constant motion, and it's impossible to describe it using only three coordinates. Unfortunately, I can't yet say what the influencing factors are that could help us determine a position accurately.”

“I think I know the solution to that part.” Pat stood up, holding her coffee mug.

Tya and Martins turned to the near comatose girl. Her voice had a tired strained tone, almost as if she had been shouting all night at a rock concert.

“What is it?” asked Tya, the excitement in her voice jolting Patricia from her stupor.

“Of course!” she exclaimed, as if discovering it all over again. ”I don't yet understand it completely, but all of the factors that influence our determination of position could be termed dimensional. And if that is so, we find ourselves with a five-dimensional coordinates system, … although who knows …” she sank back into her thoughts.

“I'm sorry,” she said, looking at them sleepily. “The spatial position of an object is usually defined on a three-axis matrix. The axes have positive or negative values allowing the expansion to be determined in all directions. The system has a relative fixed point: the zero position of the axis matrix which is most probably the center of the galaxy.”

“That is also known to us, yes,” affirmed the astronomer.

“The mass flux is also determined by two further factors, one of which is the strength of gravity, which is what moves the whole universe. Each body has a different impact on the surrounding space, and this certainly must be taken into consideration.”

“What's the other?”

“I think it's the kinetic energy! This is another factor we need to account for. In fact, besides the whole universe revolves and swirls, it does that unevenly, so the cycles can vary. In a moment the position of everything can change in relation to its previous position. All additional factors considered, we end up with a five-dimensional map.”

“Therefore, there are no distances or durations on the map because it's completely irrelevant. Indeed, even if we set off in one direction towards a set destination, after a period of time, that destination will be in a completely different position in another direction,” said Martins thoughtfully.

“That's also why it's possible to start our journey in one direction when, at the moment of departure, the destination does not exist,” added Tya.

“But, by the time we arrive, it'll be there,” Pat finished. “That's right!”

“But why doesn't time count?”

“I don't know,” Patricia shrugged.

“We are talking fucking huge distances here. I have no idea how to cover them,” Mints declared succinctly.

“Yes, and you know what? I've always thought that the cosmos was not meant to be traversed. Where there are such vast distances that make the speed of light seems mere shuffling, it's simply not possible to get around, just like that,” said Martins, sharing his own private thoughts with the girls.

“Oh, well, never mind, it's not really our problem,” said Pat, with a smile.